a storming bohemia site [aRt 4 LiFe'S sAkE]

by Charles Kruger “What’s with Fisher?” was the buzz among the reviewers in the lobby on opening night of “Transitions” at the Gateway Theatre. “He’s directing AND starring in his OWN play! Again!?! Is he crazy?” Well, I’ll tell you this about Fisher: if he’s crazy, our theatre needs a lot more mad men like […]

by Charles Kruger The joys of Grand Opera, in the view of too many, are for a privileged few. It can only be seen, they assume, in huge opera houses by an audience dressed in tuxedos and diamonds, spending hundreds of dollars for tickets. Quite often, there are more than a hundred performers onstage, orchestras […]

by Charles Kruger With literally 100s of professional performance companies, the San Francisco Bay area is undoubtedly a major center for locally produced performance art. But did you know that San Francisco also hosts a signifcant international ats festival? You should. The 15th Edition of the San Francisco International Arts Festival will soon be coming […]

by Charles Kruger “Reel to Reel” is a play about a nearly 60 year marriage. In an interview for the program notes, playwright Kolvenbach stated, “I wanted to write about marriage and relationships, intimacy. I wanted to try to write a play that was both about intimacy and that was itself an intimacy.” The challenge […]

by Charles Kruger There are only four characters and a single set (the employee’s break room in a Detroit auto plant) in Dominique Morisseau’s remarkable play, “Skeleton Crew.” But by the time the final act is concluded, you may well feel you have seen an epic story, with many more characters, and a great deal […]

by Charles Kruger Nobody could imagine anything more impossible or ridiculous than that gangster-style businessman Harry Brock (Michael Torres in an SF Playhouse debut) and his bimbo of a girlfriend, Billie Dawn (Millie Brooks), could possibly acquire influence among the respectable senators and lawyers in our nation’s capitol. Brock is crude, brutal, crooked and crass, […]

by Charles Kruger I was pleasantly surprised and even delighted by Custom Made Theatre Company’s tiny but mighty production of “Man of La Mancha.” Why surprised? Well, I must confess that I am not a fan of this particular musical. I find it overly sweet, overblown in conception, and usually overstaged. And I am […]